Vikings continue torrid streak heading into tourney

North Posey High School senior graduate Dylan Wright was one of several pitchers who helped the Vikings defeat Evansville Memorial this week to gain wins in all three of their games and prepare for sectional play. Photo by Dave Pearce

By Dave Pearce
The North Posey Vikings still have a lot to prove. Even though the team won all three games played this week, the ‘second-season’ is just beginning. The Vikings, who finished 16-9 after spending most of the early part of the season under .500, appear to have turned it around just in time for this week’s sectional tournament at Tell City.
“They say all good things must come to an end. Well we hope that not to be true for awhile,” Viking Coach Darrick Wiggins said, following wins over Washington, Evansville Memorial, and Tecumseh this week.
While admitting that the team’s regular season did end Saturday, Wiggins said he is very pleased with this group of young men and what they have been able to accomplish…so far.
“They took some early-in-the-year defeats but they worked hard at getting better every game,” Wiggins said. “They ended up 16-9 overall which is very good considering the schedule we play.”
Wiggins knows there are no ‘easy’ teams in the sectional that produced last season’s state champion but believes his team’s draw is as tough as anyone’s.
“We drew a tough tournament road and a tough opponent in Tell City on Wednesday at 5:30,” Wiggins said of drawing the host team. “If we are fortunate enough to win that game we would play the winner of Mater Dei and Perry Central on Friday.”
Should the team play well enough to end up in the championship game on Saturday, they would face the winner of defending state champion South Spencer and Forest Park.
But for this week, pitching made the difference for the Vikings, as they were outhit in two of the three games they played and won. But the Pitching and defense was able to get the Vikings out of trouble and help the team garner wins.
The Vikings got the week started on a positive note, beating the Washington Hatchets by a 5-4 score, despite being out-hit 10-8 in the contest. Senior Zack Carl picked up the win and freshman Ethan Morlock came in for the save.
“The Vikings continued to do the little things correctly to get by. Tonight it was Carl and Morlock that was the difference,” Wiggins said. “Both pitchers did a good job of mixing pitches and keeping the ball down in the zone for success.”
At the plate, the Vikings pushed four runs across in the third inning on doubles by Connor Motz and Austin Graves. And the winning run (James Marshall) was driven in by Reed Gerteisen in the fourth inning.
Later in the week, the Vikings enjoyed senior night by pummeling a pretty good Tecumseh squad to the tune of 15-5.
The Vikings scored their 15 runs on 12 hits while the Braves picked up their five runs on seven hits.
“Tecumseh had revenge on their mind but senior Collin Woods and Christian Jones had other ideas on senior night,” Wiggins said with a smile. “These two allowed only seven hits despite the good bats the Braves have shown throughout the year.”
Leading the Vikings at the plate were Reed Gerteisen, who was 3-for-3 with two triples, Marshall, who was 2-for-3, Bo Cox, who was 1-for-2. Besides Gertiesen with four hits, four other Vikings were perfect at the plate against the Braves as Dylan Wright was 1-for-1, Jones was 1-for-1, Carl was 2-for-2, and Zack Stoneberger, coming back from his illness, was 1-for-1. Michael Bender also went 1-for-2.
The North Posey High School seniors did not get to enjoy a long night after graduation as the faced perennial area power Evansville Memorial on Saturday morning.
Wiggins threw a big chunk of the pitching staff at the Tigers, in a game that was moved from May 17 due to a scheduling issue. The Vikings defeated the Tigers 9-4 as both teams committed errors in the contest, three apiece to be exact. The Vikings scored their runs on only four hits while the Tigers had four runs on five hits.
“The Vikings were in usual form Saturday,” Wiggins explained. “Pitching was key for the Vikings despite the fact that five different pitchers were on the mound.”
Derek Lindauer pitched two innnings, Carl pitched a pair, Woods pitched one, Jones pitched one, and Morlock pitched one. Lindauer got the win despite only throwing two innings because no one threw more than that.
Leading the way at the plate was Reed Gerteisen, who hit a bases-clearing double in the first. Not to be outdone, junior Damon Cardin hit a monster home run to drive two more across. Griffin Wiethop also hit a single in the inning to bring Carl around to score. Cardin also had a sacrifice fly that drove another run across in the second inning.
Wiggins said he is looking forward to seeing Viking fans support The Lady Vikings in Ferdinand on Tuesday and the baseball team in Tell City on Wednesday. Both teams drew Tell City in the opener.
“It should be a good week,” Wiggins concluded.
Class 2A Sectional 48
At Tell City
Wednesday, May 28
North Posey vs. Tell City, 5:30 p.m.
Mater Dei vs. Perry Central, 8 p.m.
Friday, May 30
North Posey-Tell City winner vs. Mater
Dei-Perry Central winner, 5:30 p.m.
South Spencer vs. Forest Park 8 p.m.
Saturday, May 31
Championship, 6 p.m.